The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-10-28
Feeding Cattle for Profit.


Chas. r. Beach, of Wisconsin, in a
speech before one of the Institutes of
that State, called attention to the fact
that all nourishiny food is mainly (not
entirely composed Of two elements -
nitrogenous or muscle forming, and car,
bonaceous, used iu producing heat and
fat; also that these elements have a GER
tain ratio to each other. or else the food
will not be properly assimilated. AMI a
part will be lost; that a weIl.balanced
ration for COW giving milk would be
one in which the digestibe nitrogenous
and carbonaceous elements in the food
should have the ratio to each other of
one of the former to five and six.tenths
ofthe latter He then says: Grass grown
up on old well seeded pasturers contains
these elements in almost exactl1 these
proportions in digestble form, and it
TO be fed alone, stands at the head OF
the list of all our feeding crops; not only
for cheapness, but for quality. Let me
say that pastures that have never been
plowed are much superior, not only in
the quality of the grass furnished. but
in their ability to stand drouth, and in
furnishing uniform supply Of fine soft
feed through the whole season.
The only possible objection to pasture
grass alone is, that it contains too much
water; this defect may be remedied hy
feeding daily small ration of it to the
COWS with three or four pounds OF wheat
bran. If the COWS were fresh mixers in
the Spring, feed the bran all Summer,
increasing it if the grass began to fall
before corn fodder was ready For cows
that had been giving milk through the
Winter and due to come in in the Fall.
the grass feed is ample To get the
greatest profit from pastures they
should be so stacked that the best of
the grass is eaten by the time fodder
comes in tassel. and don't be afraid of
beginning to feed it too soon, and be
sure you have enough to give yonr cows
a full feed at least once day until they
are we'll into Winter quarters. If you
have considerable left over, it will not
be lost. The amount of fodder corn
raised should not be less than an acre to
four cows, and the land should be rich.
The cows due to come in in the Fall
are by this time dry and for them the
fodder corn will be feed enough. For
those that come in in the Spring, and as
fast as the Winter mixers come in,
would add to the com fodder ration six
or seven pounds oc wheat bran for the
reason that the fodder is largely carbt n
aceous, and to make a we'll balanced IA
ton, needs the nitrogenous elements
contained in the bran. This feed will
keep the cows up to their best until they
90 into Winter quarters, which should
not be later than November first. Hour
best dairymen fail in one particular
more than another, it is not putting
their cows into Winter quarters soon
enough in the Fall. If grass grows
upon pastures after this, it will be worth
more for Winter protection than for
feed.
The German formula for daily
Winter ration for COW giving milk is
twenty. -four pounds of dry organic food,
of which fifteen pounds should be di-
gestible, containing of nitrogenous mat,
ter two and one half pounds and car
bonaceous twelve and one.half pounds,
or the nitrogenous to the carbonaceous
as one to five. They tell us that they
may feed with profit hay, fodder corn,
corn stalks, straw. corn, oats, barley,
wheat bran, shorts, beets, carrots, pota
toes, in fact everything that grows on
the farm; but they should be so COM
bined in feeding as to contain the de-
sired amount of digestible nutrients in
nearly the proportion named Thnty
pounds of timothy hay, which is about
the amount that a COW is supposed to
eat. when fed alone contains eleven to
twelve pounds of digestble food of
which one and one fourth pounds will
be nitrogenous aud ten pounds carbon
aceous. So hay alone will not furnish
full milk ration 1t is claimed by a
newspaper correspondent, who visited
the Darlington farm where 250 cows
are kept for butter, that their daily
rations were eight pounds corn-meal,
eight pounds bran, and eight pounds
of cut hay mixed and fed together.
This would very nearly correspond to
the German ration; but cheaper ration
and one equally well balanced was used
by Prot. Henry in some experiments
last Winter. 1t consists of sixteen
pounds hay, seven pounds wheat bran
and five pounds Of corn meal